The Jakarta Police obviously don’t have the greatest reputation when it comes to serving the public, with accusations of corruption and bribe-taking being depressingly commonplace. But it looks like the West Jakarta Police actively wants to change that reputation, and a newly launched app could be a good step in the right direction.
Now available on the Google Play Store, the application is called “WBS Polres Jakbar” (West Jakarta Police WBS), the WBS standing for “Whistle Blower System”. A whistleblower, as you probably know, is the term used for a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal or dishonest within an organization.
The “WBS Polres Jakbar” is therefore meant not only for members of the public to be able to report crimes directly to the police, but also for the public to report members of the police who are acting in an illegal or dishonest manner.
“Suppose there were violations committed by internal members of the police, those can be reported [using the application],” said Central Jakarta Police Brigadier Ariyanto at a press conference yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Ariyanto said the report would then be forwarded to relevant police officials. Later, the police officers reported by the public would be questioned and investigated as needed.
The application also allows users to include photos with their reports to give officials more evidence to work with.
Ariyanto said that members of the public could use the app anonymously with a pseudonym when making the report in case they were worried.
“So if you want it kept a secret, it will be kept secret,” he said.
The brigadier said the app was created to help public services and improve trust in the community. He added that it could also be used to report crimes outside of West Jakarta, and officials would forward the information to the right authorities.
It sounds great in theory, and we sincerely hope that this will be a tool that can be used effectively to combat both crime and corruption throughout Jakarta. But first a large number of users will need to download the program, and then we’ll see if the police will actually follow up on their reports.
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